…I was having trouble with the thug-ish speech. I never realized that it will be so difficult to find crude words. But enjoy the chapter!

TL: clover

ED: clover

"By the way, when is your society debut, Chloe?"

After going out to the orphanage as usual and taking care of the children, I asked Chloe.

The children were taking a nap and we were the only ones awake. Since no one was listening, I thought it would be okay to talk about this, and she seemed to be thinking the same way, and she immediately made a follow-up.

"I see! Lily"s society debut is coming soon, huh. Mine is still half a year away. Since my debut is after yours, can you tell me all about it later?"

"Yes, that"s fine."

Chloe, who is the daughter of an Earl, is going to have her society debut as a matter of course. We are of the same age, so it would be great if we can have our debut at the same time, but it seems that our birthday is quite apart.

Chloe who is holding Noel asked me while enjoying his soft fur.

"Have you prepared a dress yet?"

"Yes, the designer is busy preparing the dress for me."

Chloe"s eyes sparkled when I told her about it while recalling the designer"s psyched up state.

"Uwaah. I"m sure Lily who wears the debutante"s dress will be very beautiful. I want to see it! What about your escort? After all, is it going to be your fiancé, His Highness Alan?"

"Yes……that"s the plan."

"Wah! Lily, you have a very cute face just now. How nice. It really feels like a maiden in love!"

"Jeez, stop that."

"Sorry, but, when I see Lily, I think I want to fall in love quickly. I want to fall in love and get married. Of course, I don"t think it will go that smoothly."

"I"m sure you will find a good person."

Not only she goes to the orphanage to take care of the children, she is also a girl who wanted to be friends with me. Without a doubt, she will catch a good man.

When that time comes, I would like to support her in any way I can.

"Ah, it"s this time already. Lily, don"t you have to go back soon?"

"Ah, you"re right."

Chloe who checked the time urged me on.

This time is earlier than usual for me to go home.

Today, I had entrusted another errand to Luke, so I didn"t bring him along.

Instead I brought another guard. One of my father"s guards, and he has subst.i.tuted for Luke several times. He is a reliable guard.

However, Luke, who was worried about something unexpectedly, told me over and over again that I should come back as soon as possible because he wasn"t with me.

I promised him, "I just want to talk about our society debut, so I will go back as soon as I finish talking about it," and it is time for me to go home, well, I"m glad if I could set Luke"s mind at ease with this.

It is still noon when the children took a nap.

To think that I would go back at a time like this, but a promise is a promise.

"I want to talk a bit more, but I promised Luke, so I"ll return home."

When I stood up from the chair I sat down previously, Chloe looked at me with a serious expression.

"Yeah, I think that would be the best. Because Lily is the daughter of a Duke. It will be dangerous if you go back home in the evening."

"But, you"re also the daughter of an Earl, right? I"m worried because you"re always alone. You always return home late. It"s better to bring one of your guards along."

"I"m fine."

Chloe isn"t worried at all, even though I was really worried.

Although she is the daughter of an Earl, she has more freedom and often times doesn"t bring her guards.

I think being the daughter of an Earl also has its risks, so I often advise her to bring her guards, but she laughs it off and doesn"t take it seriously, insisting that she will be fine.

Nowadays, I was thinking whether to personally hire a guard and attach him secretly on Chloe.

"Jeez……it will be too late if something happens. Noel, let"s go home."

I called out to Noel. Noel jumped out of Chloe"s arms and came over to my feet. I held him in my arms.

"Well then, see you tomorrow."

"Yup, see you tomorrow, Lily."

Chloe saw me off to the entrance of the orphanage. I walked away from the site of the orphanage with the escort who was waiting there.

"I"m sorry. I keep you waiting."

"No, there is no problem because we are still on schedule."

Holding Noel, I headed towards the mansion along with the guard. There is a narrow alley leading to this church, so no carriage can pa.s.s through. It"s not that far, so I go on foot every time.

We pa.s.sed through the narrow alley. The guard came in front of me just before I step on the main street.

"Milady, please stop."

"What is it?"

Doing as I was told, I stopped my feet abruptly. The guard has a grim expression.

"……is there anyone?"

"Not only one. There are more than one person."

"Eh."

"It will be fine. I will attract their attention, so please escape, Milady. Go to the mansion through the main street. I will join you later."

"……understood."

My guard for today is not good at magic, but he"s good with swords, so he will be in a big disadvantage in narrow alleys. While we were finishing our briefing, men who appear to be thugs appeared behind us. They look like the town"s drunkards. It is clear that they were targeting us, could it be that someone hired this group?

There are 5, 6, 7……8 men.

"……state your business with Milady."

"We ain"t got no business with ya. Just thinking that we wanna damage that girlie a lil" bit……don"t get in our way."

"Eh."

I reacted to the word "damage". Even if I listen to them, it doesn"t seem like it was their own will.

"……they were probably asked to hurt me by someone from the n.o.ble family who doesn"t like my engagement with His Highness Alan. Turn me into a defective good, get rid of the engagement, and replace me as His Highness Alan"s betrothed……it"s a common story."

It"s a story that makes one feels sick, but to tell the truth, it is something that commonly happens.

If the other party is already the fiancée candidate that they were aiming for, then they just have to make it impossible for the royalty to marry the other party.

If it is a man, kill him. If it is a woman—the rest will be understood without saying.

Al is the First Prince. There will be many people envious of me who got engaged with him. So I knew that people"s envy will turn towards me much more than others, but I didn"t think that it will be at this timing.

Those thugs were shaken by my composed att.i.tude.

"W-what the heck. This girlie, she ain"t afraid."

"She"s just bluffing! All of ya! Make sure that b.i.t.c.h regrets it"

"Milady, please escape!"

The guard raised his voice and started to cover for me. I held Noel and began to run to the main street.

"Tch! The b.i.t.c.h is running away! After her!!"

I can hear metallic sounds behind me. I know that the guard is attracting the attention of some of them, but he"s outnumbered. There are about three people chasing after me.

I"m wearing high-heels, so I can"t speed up even if I run for my dear life.

"Aight! Got ya!! Imma beat ya down!!"

The voice of the man comes from directly behind me. A bit more, I almost reach the main street, it looks like I just barely in time.

"Uh!"

There is nothing more that I can do.

And yet, while running desperately, Noel, who had been quiet in my arms, cried out in a high-pitched voice.

"Mrreow!"

"Uwah!!"

I heard loud noises from behind. Looking back, all the men who chased after us were lying on the ground as if they were tripping on something.

"Eh……what?"

"Meow."

"Y-yes. That"s right. This is not the time for this."

Noel mewled as if rebuking me, so I returned to my senses and left the alley. When I reached the main street, there are a lot of people coming and going, the situation is very calm as if the incident happened before was a lie.

Since they might still follow me, I gave up regulating my breath and started running once again. On the main street with a relaxed atmosphere, seeing me running with a pale expression, the townspeople turned their heads with curious expressions.

—Since I have succeeded catching people"s attention up to this extent, they probably won"t follow me.

Still, I don"t know what will happen. Maybe there is a second group. When I thought so, I couldn"t stop running.

"Lily!"

"Al!?"

A voice can be heard from the front. When I raised my face, I saw Al riding on a horse, galloping with a panic expression. As Al came up to my side, he got off the horse and hugged me with all his strength.